Armored Core: Silent Howling

Summary: Jonas Gavada is a gun for hire with his giant robot, Silent Howl. He is invited to join a mercenary group where he learns what to fight for and who he must protect in an unfair world ruled by tyranny.

The Silent Howling beckons

Times
are bleak, Earth has become so polluted that it can barely sustain
life and wars are waged constantly for what scraps remain.
Corporations dismantled the old governments and banded together to
form the League of Ruling Companies, they then constructed huge
aerial ships, known as Cradles, and half of the world's population
now live in these floating habitats. It is only in these Cradles,
seven thousand metres above the surface, that the air is clean, and
safe enough to breath. However, this is only seen as a temporary
solution, because, the Arteria facilities that provide a steady
stream of power to them causes so much pollution that it will one day
reach the Cradles anyway.

On the ground however, it is a
different story, the different companies fight against each other for
power and control. At the end of the last war, waged by mankind, the
League asserted their dominance by introducing Arms Forts. These huge
mobile weapons of mass destruction can level cities in minutes. It is
a true display of company might at its finest. Then you have Nexts or
Next Generation Armored Cores. These Nexts are robots that range
between twelve and eighteen metres tall, they have been known to take
on armies and survive thanks to their speed, durability and ability
to be outfitted with numerous different parts. Their Lynx pilots
battled hard during the Lynx war, but now many have succumbed to
mercenary work after the Arms Forts were introduced. Some Nexts still
work for their respective companies but many of them now work as
freelancers, which works in the companies favour. During the Lynx war
many pilots died and since then, many have arisen in their stead, and
with the introduction of Arms Forts, the mighty Nexts have been
co-signed to a dying and barren Earth. One Lynx pilot in particular
now sits inside his Next, outside a research facility, surrounded by
smaller more fragile mechs... Waiting for something.

Ten
minutes had passed and in the distance nothing stirred. Unfortunately
those ten minutes felt like an hour and the calm kept Jonas wide
awake. The storm Jonas could handle but the calm before it is was
terrifying him. The thought of death heading towards you scared him,
but ironically staring it in the face, to him, was fine. Jonas was a
mercenary under the watchful eye of the League, like many Lynx,
during this time, he fought for the highest bidder with no regrets,
and the highest bidder today was the Omer Science Corporation. They
tasked him with the mission to help defend one of their research
centres against the Global Armaments Corporation. Jonas took off his
helmet and ruffled his longish brown hair. As he put his helmet back
on, the communicator spoke into his ears.

"Five more
minutes until they arrive Jonas, Get ready." The familiar voice
said.

"Why did you drop me here, fifteen minutes before
the battle even begins? I could have destroyed an Arms Fort in that
time." The familiar voice over the communicator laughed for a
few seconds.

"Destroy an Arms Fort huh? Which
one?"

"Uhh, I don't know. How about the Spirit of
Motherwill."

"The Spirit of Motherwill!" The
familiar voice laughed harder. This annoyed Jonas to a high
degree.

"Shut up Jessie. How about we swap places? See
how long you last."

"Hah, I'll let you stay on the
frontline. I'm just your operator, mission information and tactical
analysis is my game. I think I'll stick to it. Oh and about mission
information, two minutes until the G.A forces arrive." A silence
hung around the cockpit for around a half a minute as he prepared his
Next for combat. He was piloting a dark blue and black middleweight
design. It sported the mostly older 'HOGIRE' line of the Rosenthal
Corporation's body parts with a rifle in it's right hand, a laser
blade attached to it's left arm and a missile launcher mounted on his
back. Jonas had named his Next, Silent Howl.

"What am I
up against?" Jonas asked with a quizzical look on his face that
no-one could see.

"A few squads of Normals and a few
squads of M.Ts, nothing too fancy. Don't forget, you have a defence
force of two squads of Normals working with you. Use them."
Jonas looked at his assistance. They were thin, lightweight Normals
with laser rifles and a shield. Par the course for the high tech
companies like Omer Science. Normals were essentially first
generation Armored Cores that had still been in a state of mass
production for pilots without Lynx qualities. To the Lynx and their
Nexts, they were mostly cannon fodder.

"Will do." In
the distance Jonas could see them. The dense mist surrounding the
facility made it easy for GA to drop off their forces close to the
research centre which was probably why Omer Science hired him to help
out. Even though he could see them, Jonas did nothing. He needed them
to get closer. This didn't stop the defence force from taking the
initiative. As they moved towards the attackers, their commanding
unit called to Jonas over the comms.

"Alpha and Beta
Squad moving to intercept. Don't let them get too close. They're
after the base, not us. Chances are they'll take any chance they have
to attack it."

"This is Silent Howl. Get them a bit
closer and I'll... Wait, we have additional targets!"

"I
see them. Helicopters, big ones too." There was a slight quiver
in the commander's voice.

"Confirmed, there's six of
them. They'll tear them apart out there.” The moment Jessie
finished her sentence, Jonas activated the Propulsion Boosters, on
Silent Howl, and hurtled towards them, along the ground, before
taking off into the sky, straight towards the helicopters. He aimed
his rifle and fired at the one in the middle. It took two shots to
take it out. He passed the remaining helicopters who noticed that
he'd taken out their comrade. Each of the five remaining helicopters
fired a barrage of missiles. Jonas turned back on the spot to face
the missiles and he quick-boosted to the side giving him a quick,
massive burst of speed at the expense of energy. The majority of the
missiles passed him on his left, however, a couple of the last few
missiles impacted his Primal Armour Shielding, lighting it up a
sickly green colour as it repelled the explosions. Once again Jonas
aimed his rifle and flew towards the helicopters and destroyed
another two. He was about to pass through the squads middle when he
quick-boosted to the left and flanked them on their side. The
helicopters couldn't react fast enough to the quick attack. Only one
of them managed to fire more missiles before the last three
helicopters were destroyed. Jonas cut his Boosters and plummeted
towards the surface, causing the missiles to shoot right over him.
After the engagement, Jonas had only one third of his energy reserves
left, so he would have to limit his Booster use to give his Next time
to recharge. Just before he hit the ground, Jonas flared up his
thrusters again to stop him from hitting it too hard.

"We've
just lost Alpha squad, Beta is taking a beating too!" The
commander called to him, panic in his voice.

Jonas turned
towards the main force. His allies had eliminated some of the
enemies, all but 2 M.Ts had been taken out, and there was still a
full squad and a half of Normals. These Normals were big, boxy, slow
and equipped with bazookas and missile launchers. Standard equipment
from a company that favoured loud and powerful ballistic weaponry.
Jonas boosted towards the attackers right flank, taking the remaining
MTs out with one shot to each. M.Ts were terribly weak, reverse
jointed, walkers with a machine gun on top; ancient weapons for an
advanced time.

He was close enough to the enemy Normals now to
use his laser blade. A long green shimmering laser shot out of the
hilt attached to the left side of the arm. He swung at his prey. The
blade shredded through the mid-section, slicing it in two. A small
explosion from his enemy signalled its demise. Before the other
Normals had a time to react to the attack on their flank, Jonas had
quick-boosted to his right and around to the back of the remaining
enemies, taking out another three with precise shots to the head from
his rifle. Jonas stopped and took to the sky, flying directly over
the Normals, destroying another one with some shots to it's torso. He
turned on the spot while still in the sky to face them, who in
return, faced Silent Howl. He counted four more targets, each one
fired their bazookas at him. Jonas quick-boosted to the right and all
but two of the rounds impacted his Primal Armour, weakening it a
great deal. The force of the shots got through his armour and damaged
his Next, denting the armour plating in places. Warning light
signalled that his left arm had been damaged.

Jonas
responded to this by bringing his back mounted missile launcher to
bear on the last few enemies. Using a combination of missiles and
rifle shots, the remaining Normals were dispatched quickly. Jonas hit
the floor with a mighty crash. He breathed a sigh of relief. Looking
around he saw that three allies from the defence force
remained.

"Well done Jonas. Mission accomplished, the
base is safe." Jessie said to him. There was a slight hint of
relief in her voice just like at the end of every mission.

"This
is Commander Beacon of Beta squad. Thanks for giving us a hand out
there."

"Wait, there's something else coming.
It's... It's a Next!" Jessie's panic induced warning, shot Jonas
out of his relaxed state as he readied himself for another fight.
Jonas felt the strain of piloting his Next hit him. With his left arm
damaged he was already at a disadvantage. The enemy Next was heading
straight towards them. Jonas hadn't prepared for this but never the
less, it was coming, his possible demise.

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